Chapter 29

A plump, round white cloud drifted across the sky, blocking the sun. The warmth of the sunlight diminished somewhat over the sports field.

A cool breeze swept across the open field, causing the notebook in the arms of Jiang Chen, the Media Department Head, to rustle as its pages flipped rapidly.

Jiang Chen sighed and gathered the notebook back into her arms.

Her small face was full of worry.

Shen Shuyu exited the meeting room. Seeing Jiang Chen shrouded in shadow, she approached her. “Department Head Jiang, let’s walk together.”

Shen Shuyu had always been proud and aloof, never initiating walking with others.

Jiang Chen hadn’t expected the invitation and felt somewhat flattered. She quickly nodded. “Alright.”

The two walked side-by-side. Neither initiated a topic of conversation, an eerie silence hanging between them.

Jiang Chen hung her head, clutching her notebook. Her mind was full of worries over the tasks Director Wang had assigned her; she had absolutely no mental energy to chat with Shen Shuyu.

“The tasks Director Wang assigned are tricky?” Shen Shuyu proactively asked.

“Yeah. It’s not that easy to handle. That high-rise post was sealed, but there are still many smaller threads discussing this. Just identifying them all takes time, and we have to subtly sink those posts without drawing attention. It’s very tedious.” Jiang Chen was already troubled by this matter. Being young and unable to keep things bottled up, she spilled everything to Shen Shuyu the moment she asked.

“And Director Wang telling our department to be responsible for ‘stopping the gossip’ is an easy way to get scolded…” Jiang Chen looked up and around warily, then leaned closer to Shen Shuyu and lowered her voice. “To be honest, quite a few people in our department are dissatisfied with Director Wang’s behavior today—bullying the weak and fearing the strong, currying favor. Some just told me they want to quit.”

“In that case, Department Head Jiang might as well just turn a blind eye,” Shen Shuyu said calmly.

“That won’t work… if nothing else, if Director Wang finds out tomorrow I haven’t handled this, he’ll scold me.” Jiang Chen had seen Director Wang’s foul temper firsthand.

She was different from Shen Shuyu—low in status and influence, her family background not truly top-tier even in the Upper City.

If she messed up a task, Director Wang wouldn’t spare her any harsh words.

Shen Shuyu glanced at Jiang Chen and told her, “It can be done.”

Jiang Chen looked at Shen Shuyu, confused. “What do you mean?”

Shen Shuyu prompted her: “Today was so exhausting with the sports meet. It’s very possible that Department Head Jiang went straight home to rest afterward. Then she simply forgot about this matter and didn’t notify her department members.”

“But then, tomorrow morning the forum will be in complete chaos. I’ll still be held responsible then.” Jiang Chen was still hesitating.

Shen Shuyu raised an eyebrow slightly, changing the subject. “Then let me ask you, Department Head Jiang, what is your personal view on the long jump incident this morning?”

Jiang Chen thought briefly and answered cautiously, “I tend to believe the initial account. When I was deleting posts, I got a pretty good look at some of the scene photos. It’s very unlikely that the long jump student deliberately tried to extort Sun Qi, as the other side claims. It was probably as initially reported—Sun Qi barged onto the runway, causing the collision. But without a video as evidence, we can’t say for sure.”

Having roughly gauged Jiang Chen’s stance, Shen Shuyu nodded lightly, showing a measure of approval.

Then she took out her phone and brought up the video Li Qingqing had sent her. “Department Head Jiang, take a look at this.”

Jiang Chen took Shen Shuyu’s phone, not knowing what to expect.

The video clearly presented the entire course of the incident to Jiang Chen.

It was plainly visible that Yu Mo was always in the center of the runway. And Sun Qi was the one foolishly charging across it.

The heavy clouds were blown away from the sun by the wind. Sunlight gradually poured down again, spilling onto Shen Shuyu.

Her eyes calmly gazed at Jiang Chen.

On Jiang Chen’s face, she saw the expression she had anticipated—a mix of delight and shock.

“Department Head Jiang wouldn’t want others to call you Director Wang’s lapdog, would she?” Shen Shuyu slipped her phone back into her pocket. “If this truth were made public, just think about it, Department Head Jiang—even if you explained that your Media Department was only following Director Wang’s orders to delete posts, wouldn’t the anger towards Director Wang also splash onto you?”

Jiang Chen’s pupils constricted sharply. She finally understood Shen Shuyu’s true purpose in calling her to walk together just now. “Then tell me, Department Head Shen, what should I do?”

She had never wanted to associate with the likes of Director Wang, and even less did she want to suffer scorn because of it.

Since an opportunity had been delivered right to her doorstep now, she might as well go along with it.

“Go to bed early tonight,” Shen Shuyu hinted, speaking just enough to convey the point.

“Alright, I’ll be asleep by eight.” Jiang Chen nodded forcefully. Then, a sense of victory over oppressive authority swelled within her. Impatiently, she said a little more to Shen Shuyu, “Department Head Shen, I’m starting to look forward to seeing Sun Qi caught in an impossible position tomorrow, forced to apologize to the injured student.”

“What I want isn’t just Sun Qi’s apology.” Shen Shuyu’s pupils shifted slightly. An unfathomable dark abyss swirled within them.

At high noon, the sun above the sports field was split and refracted by water vapor crystals in the air, displaying the colors of the rainbow.

Seven-colored halos, one after another, were like bubbles in an ocean of sky.

Finally landing on the glass of the school infirmary ward, they refracted inside, making the room bright and luminous.

Inside, Yu Mo was speaking to the people in the room, saying the exact same words as Shen Shuyu: “What I want isn’t just Sun Qi’s apology.”

“Then what else do you want? You can’t possibly be thinking of expelling Sun Qi from this school?” Wei Lai was focused on typing away furiously on her tablet screen, asking offhandedly.

“Don’t you think expelling her is letting her off too easy?” Yu Mo countered.

“Ideally, someone like that should never be able to hold her head high in school again. Every time she thinks about twisting the facts or throwing her weight around in the future, she’ll remember the retribution she faces today,” Zhou Qin added, setting a plate of fruit onto the table in front of the group. “Is everything communicated?”

Yu Mo looked up and asked.

“Yeah, I just called the last person—Media Department boss Jiang Chen. Originally wanted to ask her out for a meal first, but she agreed right over the phone. So, I used the money we saved to buy you all fruit.” Zhou Qin peeled open a pomelo, giving half to Feng Ruoyu and eating the other half herself. “It’s a bit strange, really. I remember she used to be so timid. How come the moment I brought it up this time, she agreed straight away? Could it be that differentiating into an Alpha also made her bolder?”

Li Qingqing didn’t need to think twice to know who had done this thankless spadework for Zhou Qin. She commented knowingly, “Perhaps we had divine intervention.”

“It’s just that Jiang Chen feels our side is right, so she agreed readily. That’s what you call evil not suppressing righteousness; everyone knows it in their hearts,” Feng Ruoyu ate her pomelo and chimed in, words slightly muffled.

“I love love love this plan of our Yu Mo’s,” Wei Lai declared, looking at some financial information she’d compiled on the Sun family’s companies, clicking her tongue in admiration at Yu Mo. “Come here, let Mama see how that little brain of yours grew so smart.”

Yu Mo pushed Wei Lai away in disgust. “Ugh, go find more stuff. We still need to ambush them tonight and catch them completely off guard.”

.

The first day of the school sports meet flew by, seemingly in the blink of an eye. The setting sun blazed, coloring half the sky in fiery red. A group of pigeons flew past the sky, leaving behind a beautiful silhouette.

As the saying goes, with full bellies come lustful thoughts. Since it was still only the first day of the sports meet, all sorts of posts about the day’s events were popping up endlessly.

Especially around seven or eight in the evening, by which time teachers had all gone home to rest, and the Media Department collectively chose blindness—

The forum was completely unmoderated; it was entirely the students’ domain.

A perfect time to fish in troubled waters and drop a thunderbolt.

Li Qingqing sat cross-legged on the bed, a lightweight laptop resting on her slender legs.

Her fingers danced nimbly across the keyboard. A post drifted into the campus forum.

[Am I the only one just finding out about the Grade 10 long jump accident this morning!!!]

In the main post, following Yu Mo’s instructions, Li Qingqing took the final collision segment from the full incident footage, made it into a GIF, and posted it.

Passing-by students, smelling the aroma of drama, clicked into the thread one after another.

1L: [Shielding OP! A hot thread this morning was already deleted.]

2L: [What happened? I don’t know anything! OP, spill the tea!]

3L: [Is this about that girl who broke the record, then got knocked over on her second attempt by someone barging onto the runway? I saw a bit, but the thread got deleted before I could finish scrolling. Probably the school deleted it.]

4L: [I was at the scene. That girl fell hard. Scraped her entire arm open.]

5L: [No way, someone was actually dumb enough to run onto the runway? Wasn’t there anyone responsible watching nearby? Is the Student Council just getting paid to slack off?]

……

Seeing a good number of people had entered the thread, Li Qingqing’s slender, delicate fingers danced across the keyboard, dropping more information: [I went to the school infirmary to get medicine today and overheard the nurse there say that the student who barged in not only showed no remorse but was incredibly arrogant. I really feel sorry for the person she hit. The nurse said she already had a wound on her arm, and now it’s even worse.]

11L: [Seriously? How can someone act like that? You barge into the runway, cause someone to get hurt—you at least owe them a ‘sorry’!]

12L: [This person looks familiar. Anyone recognize her?]

13L: [I know her. She’s Sun Qi from my class. The opposite runway side is her friend. They crossed through together.]

14L: [That name sounds super familiar… I think someone in my group chat mentioned her today! God, if it’s her, then I’m not surprised at all.]

15L: [Holy crap? Together? So these field events are just this disrespected??? Chaos like this??]

16L: [14th Bro, are we in the same group? Someone in my group also mentioned her. Why is Sun Qi’s name getting so much traffic today?]

17L: [Bro 14, Bro 16, can you share the tea on this Sun Qi with me?]

……

“You handled this beautifully, Ruoyu!” Wei Lai, watching the mounting negative discussion about Sun Qi in the thread, smacked Feng Ruoyu on the back with a thwack.

“Ah, it was nothing, nothing,” Feng Ruoyu, looking at the constant notifications buzzing on her phone, waved her hand with feigned modesty.

This afternoon, under Yu Mo’s instruction, Feng Ruoyu had utilized the connections she’d built over the past half year, specifically avoiding group chats with Sun Qi, and casually mentioned Sun Qi, sounding like a complaint.

Feng Ruoyu was socially adept, eloquent and witty in group chats, often livening up the atmosphere. In less than half a year, her title within these groups had climbed to the Protector level, just below the Great Elder.

This one casual complaint immediately garnered comfort from many people.

The large group chats were a mixed bag with people from all grade levels.

Those who didn’t know Sun Qi asked who she was, and Sun Qi’s righteous classmates eagerly enlightened them with a summary of her behavior.

Sun Qi had never cultivated goodwill; her eyes were always on the top of her head.

By that afternoon, virtually no one had a good word to say about her.

And so, from one person to the next, word of mouth spread.

Sun Qi’s frequent bullying and arrogance were thoroughly exposed to the public eye.

Within this overwhelming wave of condemnation against Sun Qi, some discordant voices suddenly appeared.

[Do you guys even know the facts before you start bashing Sun Qi here? The school hasn’t even said it was Sun Qi’s fault yet. Don’t you guys wonder why?]

[Exactly! It was clearly that Lower City person trying to extort Sun Qi who deliberately crashed into her!]

[I saw it! Based on the speed someone else passed earlier, that person wouldn’t have hit Sun Qi at that speed. She saw Sun Qi coming and deliberately accelerated!]

[The GIF is so blurry, probably a composite? If you’re so sure, show the video! Otherwise, who believes you?]

……

A single glance told everyone Sun Qi’s little posse had arrived on the battlefield. The chair Yu Mo had been tilting back on instantly righted itself, all four legs landing on the floor.

This was exactly the effect she was aiming for.

The people had arrived. Now they could begin reeling in the net.